I want to send out the SU HD.6 carburetors from my 1957 MK VIII for a rebuild next week to a USA based shop. The car last ran in 1975. I spent some time searching the Jag-Lovers archives yesterday and came up with a few places that have been recommended including Joe Curto in New York, Jeff Palya of Paltech in Ohio, and Dana Britton of SUcarbs in Kansas. I want the rebuilt carburetors to look and operate as new.
While it is against Jag-Lovers rules to bash business, it is perfectly acceptable to say good things about a business. I was wondering if others on this list could reply with good things to say about any of these carburetor rebuilders for work that they have done for you. If you don’t want to reply to the list you can send me a PM with your comments.
Attached are a few pictures of the carburetors before I removed them from the intake manifold.
I typically do a lot of the work on my Jaguars myself, but I have decided to send out some of the work to others to move this “barn find” restoration project along more quickly. The 3.4 L XK engine and cylinder head are in the machine shop now and expect them to return by mid May. I would like to run the engine outside the car on my engine test stand this summer with the goal of driving it later this year. Your replies about positive experiences with any of these carburetor rebuilders is appreciated.
Paul
Joe Curto is located in Bayside, Queens, New York. I spent my ‘formative’ years growing up several miles away . Over the years, during my annual visits to NY, I connected with several Jaguar owners there, and several recommended Joe Curto highly. While you’re having your carbs rebuilt, I’d highly recommend you go online to SNG Barratt & get yourself a Genuine SU auxiliary starting carburetor solenoid. You may have read my previous posts on this site the difficulties I encountered with the one on my Mark 2 several weeks ago, although I suppose I shouldn’t complain, as that one lasted me 31 years. If your car’s auxiliary starting carburetor is activated by a thermostatically controlled device, I’d highly recommend you convert to a manual toggle switch to engage the solenoid at your discretion rather than the unpredictable thermostatic switch. Hope this helps. I’m looking forward to viewing photos as your restoration progresses.
I have had positive dealings with Joe Curto. however; on his webpage he notes that he is overwhelmed with work and you need to make reservations for your work.
A few years ago I had my twin SU H2 carbs for my MGTD rebuilt by Joe Curto. He did an outstanding job, they came back looking like new from the factory and worked perfectly but be advised his turn around time is not fast. I did this job while I was not using the car during the rainy winter months. Ask him how long your job might take.
Here it is a year later and I am referring back to numerous posts on our forum in search of someone to rebuild my MK2 carbs. I just received a nice letter of interest/reply to my inquiry from:
